the suffering christ 784 Are you afraid, whoever you are, crushed by the burden of many sins, of the abyss of hell, and its punishments, terrible, incurable, and unending? Sigh, flee, and hasten to the scourges of the Savior with true contrition: “Hoping in the Lord,” lest justice punish, “His mercy will surround [you]” (Ps 31:10) [LV].33 Are even you, who have a more tender conscience, afraid of being sent one day to the purifying prison, since you are not yet free from [the punishment due to] sins committed or [good acts] omitted? Have recourse to the scourged Jesus: “Hoping” in Him, “mercy will surround [you].” For, “If, as it is right,” the saintly Augustine thus perceives, “the just Heavenly Father disdains you for your sin, may He gaze upon you at least mercifully out of the charity that He has for his beloved Son” (cf. Contemplation 8).34 But if perhaps, someone is here and now scourged by God temporally, in order not to be scourged eternally, let him [who was] scourged prostrate [himself ] before Jesus, and Jesus will bear his scourges or lessen them or strengthen him with heavenly sweetness, that he may sing with a most blessed tongue the sweetest praises of the omnipotent God! O Jesus! As I do not know how to count up Your wounds: So I do not know how to count the wounds of my soul! But I do know this: For the healing of these, those are more than sure; They suffice; therefore, what I know, the same do I ask. 33 This quotation was translated directly from the Latin Vulgate in order to best convey the meaning intended by Stanislaus. In the RSV this is Psalm 32:10. 34 Augustinas, Meditationes, Ch. VIII, 4, in: AMS, p. 19.
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